Construction of Legal System of China's Farmland Protection under the Coexistence of Multiple Objectives: Historical Logic, Practical Problems and Optimization Paths

[Objectives] To explore the evolution of the legal system of farmland protection and explore the rules and characteristics of policy development based on the theory and logic of institutional change since China's reform and opening up, reveal the problems and deep-seated reasons of its legislation, clarify the direction of farmland protection in the new period, and solve the "non-agricultural" "non-grain" and ecological problems of farmland. [Methods] Literature analysis and inductive deduction methods were used. [Results] The evolution of the farmland protection legal system has gone through the process of "national consciousness – policy guidelines – institutional system", the change from "single subject to multiple subjects"; change from the use of "one-way administrative means to coordinated use of administrative, economic and technical means". The practical problems of the farmland protection legal system are mainly due to the insufficient systematization of the farmland protection legal system itself, the generalization of quantity protection, the transformation of quality protection, and the absence of ecological protection. [Conclusions] It is recommended to improve the existing farmland protection legal system from the establishment of the Farmland Protection Law, the improvement of the farmland protection public participation mechanism and supervision mechanism, the establishment of the farmland quality construction and improvement system, the differentiated farmland occupation and supplementation balance system, and the ecological restoration system.